Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor and singer. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films Dead Presidents and Mr. Holland's Opus, Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema roles between 2004 and 2006. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Hustle & Flow. Howard has had prominent roles in many other movies including Winnie, Ray, Lackawanna Blues, Crash, Four Brothers, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Idlewild, August Rush, The Brave One and Prisoners. Howard played James Rhodes in the first Iron Man and its video game adaptation, but he was replaced by Don Cheadle for the future films. He currently stars as the lead character Lucious Lyon in the television series Empire. His debut album, Shine Through It, was released in September 2008.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrence_Howard

Actor, rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer Terrence Deshon Howard is best known for his role as Lucius Lyons, music mogul, in the TV series Empire for which he won the BET Best Actor Award in 2015. While he began his career appearing on several TV shows, such as Living Single (1993) and Family Matters (2000), he made his major film debut in 1995 with Dead Presidents and Mr. Holland’s Opus. In 2005, at the 78th Academy Awards, he won an Oscar for Best Original Song for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from the movie Hustle and Flow.

Howard was born March 11, 1969 in Chicago, Illinois. Both his parents, Tyrone Howard and Anita Hawkins Williams, were biracial. His great grandmother was actress Minnie Gentry. His father, an insurance salesman, was physically abusive.

Howard began his acting career in 1992 as Jackie Jackson in the ABC Miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream. He appeared in several TV shows and had the lead role in Sparks (1996). His first major film role came in 1995 when Howard played “Cowboy” in the Hughes Brothers film Dead Presidents. That same year he appeared as “Louis Russ” in Mr. Holland’s Opus starring Richard Dreyfus and in Paul Haggis’s film Crash. In 2008, he played Lt. Colonel James Rhodes in Iron Man; however, he was replaced by Don Cheadle in the sequel. Howard made his Broadway debut in 2008 playing “Brick” in an all-African American production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof directed by Debbie Allen.

Howard earned the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 1999 and the Independent Spirit Award in 2004 for Crush. A self-taught musician on piano and guitar as well as a songwriter, Howard co-wrote all the songs on his 2008 debut album Shine Through It.